Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

First of all, I would like to extend my warm welcome to you. The 3rd International Forum on Public Diplomacy is one of the brand projects between The Charhar Institute and overseas institutions. The first forum has successfully closed in Beijing on May 2012, the second one was held on September in Hague. Both forums have made fruitful achievements and have attracted international attention by the academic world and press circles.

The twenty-first century is the century of city. As predicted by the United Nations, with an average annual growth of about 79 million, the world population will exceed 9 trillion in 2043. As late as to 2050, the city population will account for 2/3 of the world population. A research report released by McKinsey says that city economy is more centralized than it seems to be. The 600 central cities that occupy only 1/5 of the global population have created 60% of the world's GDP. Opportunities and challenges of human will all relevant with city in the future.

In this background, the status of city has become more and more important as the political, economic, and cultural hub. Cities take more positive and active roles in diplomatic activities. As part of the overall national diplomacy, city diplomacy is becoming a new diplomacy model. With China's opening up and urbanization, cities are becoming more and more city diplomacy has become the priorities of cities.

On May 15, 2014, at China International Friendship Conference in Commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of the CPAFFC President Xi pointed out that city diplomacy, civil diplomacy, public diplomacy are equally important. He proposed to vigorously carry out the work between sister-cities, promote Chinese and foreign local government contacts so as to realize resource sharing, complementary advantages and cooperation. This was an affirmation of China's city diplomacy and it presented higher standards for city diplomacy theory and practice.

As a matter of fact, China's city diplomacy practices have always preceding theories. 17 local public diplomacy associations or city diplomacy associations have been established to coordinate the city diplomacy work. City diplomacy not only has a positive role in promoting local economic and cultural development, it is also of great importance to the overall national diplomacy strategy.

The Charhar Institute has been given more emphasis to city diplomacy since 2013. The main work includes the establishment of city diplomacy research center, roundtables, special report on Public Diplomacy Quarterly and field researches, etc. On June 2014, The Charhar Institute and China Foreign Affairs University co organized the first Public Diplomacy Forum between Colleges and Local Governments with the theme of "Practice of China's City Diplomacy". Over 50 experts and scholars attended the forum. On September 2014, City Diplomacy: China's Practice and Foreign Experience was published. It is the outcome of city diplomacy research by The Charhar Institute.

Finally, I wish all of you will enjoy the forum and hope the forum a complete success.

Thank you!